The four OVM Perspectives categorize a mind’s position on a particular topic: believer, explorative agnostic, apathetic agnostic, or skeptic.
Where you personally stand on a topic?
In ordinary usage, the term perspective often overlaps with viewpoint or even lens, but not in TST. In TST, a perspective is the position of a mind on a specific topic, a viewpoint is a thinking position available for any mind to consider, and a lens is an available worldview approach to things like truth, belief, and ethics.
OVM Perspectives is a specific TST term.
People hold different positions on different topics. A believer accepts a claim. You might be a believer in things like science, vaccines, evolution, and the Moon landing. A skeptic says a topic is false. You might be a skeptic in things like unicorns, astrology, and Valhalla. Agnostics are in between and there are two types: explorative and apathetic. An explorative agnostic remains uncertain but actively investigates. You might hold explorative agnostic perspectives on things like ghosts, the afterlife, or String Theory. An apathetic agnostic remains uncertain but also wants to be left along. You might hold this perspective for things like the disappearance of D. B. Cooper, what a particular passage of the Catholic Bible says, or the specific political topic of the day. Everyone can benefit by understanding where their interests are and bowing out of dialogue for topics they are apathetic about.
These perspectives describe how someone approaches a specific subject, not their entire worldview or personality. A person can believe one claim, doubt another, and remain agnostic about many others. Understanding these differences helps us discuss difficult subjects without reduction to labels.
